


Bursting in, messing up, making it home

by killym



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-29
Updated: 2012-04-29
Packaged: 2017-11-04 13:12:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/394254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killym/pseuds/killym
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike doesn't like when Harvey is keeping secrets from him, especially when they shouldn't be secrets at all. And when he can help Harvey deal with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bursting in, messing up, making it home

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Christmas fic. I know it's the end of April but it took me several months to finish it because that's how I roll. Also, me and my friends are having this New Year's Eve Party In The Middle Of Summer thing in a couple of weeks, so I thought - why not make it more Chrstmasy since we're at it?

 

“Happy Christmas, Harvey,” said Mike, approaching his boss with two plastic cups of eggnog. “I'm so glad you finally made it, seriously, I was all alone here and I would _swear_ that Lou-”

Harvey raised his hand to stop him from talking, without even looking in young man's direction.

“As happy as I am to hear all about your tremendous experience with drunken Louis...” he glanced at Mike as he took one of the cups from his hand and returned to scanning the crowd “I'm really not in the mood right now. Have you seen Jessica?”

“Um, yeah, she's...” Mike began, taken aback a bit by Harvey's cold attitude. Finally he just pointed in general direction where he thought Jessica might be and watched as Harvey passed him by and disappeared in a crowd of semi-drunk lawyers.

He wasn't really expecting anything more than the usual cold-hearted, distant Harvey but he was hoping... Well, what he was hoping for was an entirely different matter. It was Christmas, after all. Time for cheer and wishes coming true. Did he get it wrong again? Mike sighed and took a sip of eggnog. He was going to need a lot more than that that evening.

*

“Jess, I have _no idea_ what to do. You know how I am with kids, I just can't keep him.”

“The kid needs his father, Harvey, and besides…”

“Exactly!” he interrupted her “I am hardly his fath-”

Harvey abruptly stopped talking as he noticed Mike walking towards them. He tried to relax and visibly failed so Jessica put her hand on his back, reassuring, as they both turned to face his protégé.

“Mr. Ross,” Jessica said, giving him a hard look. “It's not really a good time.”

“Harvey, what's wrong?” he asked, blatantly ignoring what the woman just said. And yes, it probably wasn't the best idea, giving the fact that she's the one making the most important calls around here, but Mike didn’t really care. He shouldn't have even be here in the first place, right?

“Excuse me?” Jessica grabbed his arm and turned him around. “I think I made myself clear, it's not...”

“That's okay, Jess. I'll take care of it,” Harvey interrupted her and then placed his palm over Mike's neck, just to push him towards the door.

Annoying Christmas carols playing from the internet radio on someone's laptop fell silent as they reached Harvey's office.

“What the fuck was that, Mike?” the older man attacked him the second the door fell shut behind them.

“What do you mean? I was worried about you so I just asked what's wrong. Because something is wrong and I’ll probably be able to help you, so just tell me. I'll find out sooner or later and you know it,” he said firmly.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Harvey denied a little bit too fast. Mike watched him attentively as he sit on a sofa, crossed his legs and put an arm along the back of it.

“Oh, really,” he crossed his arms on his chest, without even a budge. “Because, you know, it's almost eleven p.m., we're at the office Christmas party and I'm still sober as fuck and so are you, and instead of making out in the men's room with one of us holding mistletoe over our heads, we're sitting here and arguing over something and I don't even know what that is.”

“And you didn't think that if you _still_ don't know maybe you should just give up because I don't want to tell you?” Harvey said, entirely calm, giving Mike one of those looks the younger man hates so much. Like he tries to challenge Mike into trying again, except he's perfectly aware that he’d already won.

They both fell silent after that, watching each other, Mike wishing he knew what Harvey was thinking right now.

It wasn't nearly as long as he thought it was, because only a couple seconds later Harvey got up and just went out without another word, once again leaving Mike completely alone.

*

Mike rubbed a hand over his face, puzzled, as he started walking around the office. He was getting seriously tired of Harvey’s bullshit, even though, after all this time, he should already be used to the man’s difficult character. Except it was really hard for him to put up with this person Harvey was becoming exactly at the moment he was putting a foot in the office, especially when almost every evening they were together he was getting to know this other Harvey who can be the sweetest, the most tender person Mike has ever known.

And the worst part was, Mike began to realize, that he might have been slightly falling in love with the bastard.

No one in the entire office had seen Harvey leaving the building. Actually, no one even realized that he came to the party, except, of course, Donna who, blatantly bored, was now sitting in a corner, watching everyone attentively while sipping on a drink.

“I need to find Harvey,” Mike demanded, coming up to her from behind.

“And you really don’t know where he might be,” Donna looked at him judgingly as if he was the most stupid person she had met today. But he wasn’t really bothered because, frankly, this look was the most common one on the woman’s face. “It’s quite obvious where he has gone to in his current situation and I would gladly tell you but he’d probably kill me. So I called you a cab instead,” she answered after a moment, staring intensely at the bottom of her glass. “It should be already waiting for you outside.”

Mike’s face immediately brightened up. Despite her clear resistance he hugged her muttering ‘thanks’ and rushed to the door.

As he got into the cab his phone rang with a text message from Donna. _I’m not sure if you should visit him, though_ it said, but Mike decided to brush it off and shoved the phone into a pocket.

  


There was a knock on the door. After that there was a silence and then another knock. Harvey hang his suit in the wardrobe, ignoring the noise, but when knocking changed into pounding he gave up. He pulled on a t-shirt and got to the door as fast as he could without actually running.

He sighed heavily when he saw Mike leaning on a doorframe. “I don’t recall inviting you over tonight,” he said stepping out of the flat and closing the doors a bit.

“And I don’t really care so just listen. I know I might seem like an overprotective and jealous boyfriend right now, but…”

“Who you’re not, by the way,” Harvey interrupted him, leaving Mike startled and probably a bit hurt because younger man just looked at him, rest of the sentence stuck in his throat. It was harsh and Harvey knew it, seeing as usual brightance of Mike’s eyes faded away.

“Who I am not, right…” Mike looked down, embarrassment taking over him. “So I may look like an overprotective and jealous associate right now but excuse me while I burst in and demand explanation.” A sudden bit of courage made Mike push Harvey out of the way and open the door. “Because I think you owe me one.”

“Mike, you really should-” Harvey tried to stop him, catch his hand, but it only made him stagger a bit when Mike pulled his arm from the unsteady grip. “Mike, no.”

“What is it, Harvey?” he stood in a middle of his boss’ sitting room, hands in jeans pockets, a little bit angry, a little bit lost and unsure. “You don’t usually have a problem with dumping your hardest work on me so why suddenly refuse to tell me what’s the matter? Also, it’s Christmas, so maybe show me some Christmas spirit and stop being an asshole just for a sec-“

“For fuck’s sake, Mike, could you just shut up?!” he hissed, rushing to the younger man and covering Mike’s mouth with his palm. He pointed at the couch where a small, dark-haired boy was sleeping, curled into a ball, with a thumb somewhat between his lips. “He just fell asleep.”

Mike looked at the child, confused. After a moment he gazed at Harvey, staring into his eyes, unspoken question slowly forming in his head. Finally Harvey took his hand away.

“He’s your son?” Mike asked outright. Harvey raised his eyebrows in a mocking manner.

“No, in my free time I like to wander around Central Park and kidnap little boys… Of course he’s my son,” he sneered in response and left Mike alone as he went to the kitchen.

“And that was your big secret? Why didn’t I know about him?” Mike’s voice came from the living room.

Harvey rolled his eyes, closing the fridge. “Why should you?” He grabbed two wine glasses from a countertop and headed back to the room, checking out the wine label. “He’s not a part of my life, actually, there was no need to--“ he started to explain but when he lifted his head Mike was no longer there.

*

“Donna, stop drinking, go home and sleep. I’m gonna need your help tomorrow.”

Mike hung up after that, leaving Donna fairly surprised. She looked at her cellphone like she wasn’t sure if it really happened and shook her head.

“Thank God…” she murmured to herself as she slide off of the stool, grabbed her purse and left an office, trying to forget about Louis’ pitiful attempts in wooing almost every female employee in the firm.

*

“You sure about this?”

“I did not wake up at an ungodly hour with a slight headache for you to have doubts now, you know,” she hissed to the phone, every word dripping with sarcasm. “Besides it’s too late, I already… Oh, Harvey’s back.” Donna stood straight next to the door with a perfectly faked smile, waiting for Harvey to open them.

“Um, Donna, but I’m really--”

Harvey stepped inside, keys chingling in his hand. He was wearing a grey tracksuit and a pair of dreadful, white running shoes.

“Talk to you later. Bye.” She hung up on Mike and eyed her boss from head to toe. “Harvey, I told you this already but I’ll repeat myself again. This is the most ridiculous thing you ever worn, you should just burn it as soon as possible. Just let me… take a picture...” She flipped her phone and pushed the button before Harvey had a chance to cover it with his palm.

“You’ll be fired if you ever use this photo against me,” Harvey hissed, trying to steal the phone from her and failing miserably.

“We both know that’s never gonna happen, and you’re about to be late.”

“Oh, right…” He glanced at his wrist watch and headed to the bathroom. He stopped a few steps in, turned back and asked, “Are you sure about this?”

Donna, seriously irritated by now, just rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am sure, Jesus, why suddenly everybody’s so concerned about my sureness. Just go before I change my mind. I really need an alibi for not doing Christmas shopping with my parents and you wouldn’t do much good here today anyway, so what is it you’re so not sure about?”

“I’m not worried about you, I just don’t want to owe you.” Harvey smiled lightly “But that’s probably true, I’d just be on the phone all day and Charles seems very fond of you”

“Harvey, kids love me,” said Donna, full of pride “in fact everyone does so I have no idea why it comes to you as a surprise. Now shoo, off you go, take a shower and leave, please. Rinsberg won’t be waiting for you.”

Woman was literally ‘shooing’ Harvey to the bathroom, waving at him awkwardly.

“If he wants his money, he will…”

“Go!”

*

“Charles, I apologize again, are you sure you’re okay staying with Donna?”

She sighed at yet another ‘are you sure’. They were standing in an elevator door, Harvey crouching before the boy, Donna next to him, her hand on little boy’s head, petting his hair protectively.

Boy nodded, a shy gesture after which he awkwardly hugged his dad and hide behind Donna’s legs. Harvey got up and, a bit unsure how he should react, just straightened his suit and pushed an elevator button.

“Have a good day, you two,” he said and the glass doors shut.

“Oh, we will,” Donna murmured, reaching for her phone, “you have no idea…”

Donna checked her watch, shuffling her legs in place to warm up. Charlie was standing next to her, woolen hat shoved almost over his eyes. He tried to slip it up several times with his gloved hands, but the hat clearly had his own idea of being in place. They were standing behind a pillar of Harvey’s building, waiting for Mike.

He arrived some time later, his nose red from cold and hands tucked deep in his pockets.

“Finally,” Donna huffed and pointed at the boy behind her. “This is Charlie, say hello.”

Mike glanced at the boy. He looked exactly the same as yesterday evening but really, what did he expect? He kneeled and reached his hand out. “Hi, Charlie. I’m Mike,” he said and smiled.

“Are you also Mister Harvey’s friend?” the boy asked, looking directly at Mike and gently squeezing man’s hand. ‘Mister Harvey’ echoed in Mike’s head over and over again. How distant a relationship has to be for a four year old to call his father ‘Mister’? What did they do to this poor kid, he wondered, as he nodded with a silent “Yes, yes I am” and stood up, trying very hard not to ruffle kid’s hair in sympathy.

“Sorry I’m late!” they heard from behind. Harvey’s driver was heading towards them, balancing two enormous cups of Starbucks coffee. He handed one of them to Donna and then took a long sip from the other one. Mike was just looking between them, kind of offended.

“Don’t worry, you’re exactly on time” said Donna smiling, bouncing herself off the pillar as she reached for her cup.

“What? Why he gets a smile and a pat on the back and I got reprimanded?”

“Is he gone?” Ray asked, completely ignoring Mike. “Because I have this giant Christmas tree on the roof of my limo and I’m not sure if I am even allowed to park here.”

Carrying almost seven feet spruce down the hall of a luxurious apartment building was hard. Fitting the said tree and three people in an elevator, however, is close to impossible and should be an Olympic task.

They finally reached the right floor, taking much longer than any of them thought it would have. Donna, trying not to make any sound, pulled out her own, as Mike assumed because he didn’t recognize a silver keychain attached to it, set of keys, and steadily ignored his bitchy face staring at her.

“What?” she asked after a moment, handing a tree stand to Charlie and once again trying to guess which key is the right one.

“Nothing, just- ”

“Aha, I found it!” Donna shouted. Mike bit his tongue and said nothing.

As they managed to put the tree down Donna turned to the boy and asked, “So, Charlie, did you eat yet?” The boy shook his head and whispered something into Donna’s ear.

“Yeah?” she said and smiled. “Well then, Mike, I hope you know how to make waffles.”

Mike glanced at both of them suspiciously as he wandered to the kitchen to check on Harvey’s egg situation.

*

By the time Mike was done in the kitchen, Donna was already dressed to leave. She stood up when she saw him entering the room with a plate full of heart-shaped waffles in one hand and jars of strawberry jam and Nutella in the other.

“You’re going somewhere?” Mike asked as he put the plate on a coffee table.

“I’ll be back in two hours,” she replied, stealing one of the waffles. “I have some agendas you don’t need to know about so it’d be good for you to appreciate my help later, you know… Oh, Mike, these are delicious!”

“Thank you,” Said Mike and sat next to Charlie curled up in a corner of the couch. He pushed the plate towards the kid and nodded at him, encouraging him to take one. “Granny used to teach me how to cook and I memorized a bunch of random recipes, although my cooking skills shouldn’t surprise you as much as the fact that Harvey owns a heart-shaped waffle maker.”

Donna laughed at that and stole a bit of Nutella from an open jar with her finger. “Anyway, boys, I need to go. See you in a bit,” she said and left, leaving Mike completely alone with a small child who happened to be his boss’ son. No big deal, he thought as he wiped his slightly sweaty hands in his jeans.

“Um, so… Charlie. Can I call you Charlie?” The boy nodded and shyly reached for a waffle. He grabbed one, then started munching on it, not saying a word. Mike tried again. “How old are you?”

Without looking at him, Charlie raised five fingers. After a brief consideration he stuffed a waffle into his mouth and raised the extra one.

“Six? You’re a big boy then, do you go to school?” Another nod. Mike sighed, trying not to give up. “What classes do you like the most? I hated math, my teacher was… not nice.” He lied. He never had any troubles with math, or any other class, really, with his amazing brain and all that, but he knew that math was usually a hard time for other people and he was trying to win this boy, after all. Do they teach math to six year olds, though? He started to think about that but then Charlie just shrugged, taking another waffle off the plate.

Slowly starting to give up, Mike reached for one, too, smearing it with a mix of strawberries and chocolate. He inhaled deeply, trying to come up with a new tactic when Charlie whispered, “I really like art class.”

He looked at Mike, his fingers and half of his face shiny with oil. After that he glanced at Mike’s waffle nearly with desire. Mike reached for a knife and put a lot of both toppings on yet another heart and handed it to the boy who smiled widely and started licking it off.

“If you like art then I have great news for you because, you know, we need to make this tree look like a proper Christmas tree.” This drew Charlie’s attention. He froze with his tongue sticking out halfway from his breakfast, his eyes on man’s face. Mike chuckled and got up to find his bag in which he brought a whole lot of colorful papers, popcorn, some ribbons and all of the stuff you need to make your homemade Christmas ornaments. “You think you can help me with that?”

After making some space on the table, he started to unpack everything, one eye on the boy who was becoming visibly more excited with every next thing Mike drawn out of his bag.

“I wanna make an angel!” he suddenly shouted with enthusiasm Mike wasn’t expecting and grabbed a white lace Mike’s grandma used to tie her hair with years ago.

“Slow down there, grub.” Mike caught the boy in half and started to tickle him, boy’s laughter strong and maybe a little forced but not less enjoyable. “Maybe we should clean you up first, huh?”

*

Getting all of that grease and Nutella off Charlie’s face and hands wasn’t nearly as hard as it’s gonna be to get rid of that glue, Mike thought when Charlie decided that yet another piece of paper from an angel’s wings needed extra care and he started to spread glue with his fingers which after that conveniently found their way to boy’s shirt. Mike suppressed a moan and went back to making a popcorn chain. Already finished decorations - some cutouts and origami snowmans, snowflakes and little angels - were lying on the floor next to the table waiting for them to be done. Donna was bustling around in the kitchen, she’s been back for about an hour now, busy with preparing all of that food she brought with her.

“Are you done?” she shouted from the kitchen. “Because we forgot about gingerbread house and we cannot simply forget about a gingerbread house, I hope you’re aware of that. Also, hot chocolate is already done.” Mike looked at the boy sitting next to him. At the mention of a gingerbread and hot chocolate he automatically forgot about his angel, jumped up from the couch and wanted to run to Donna but suddenly he stopped, looked at what he was working on and then on Mike, silently asking for approval.

Mike just nodded, a bit shocked and pretty touched, because what were the chances that Charlie, after such a short time, will respect him so much? He likes me, Mike thought pleased because hey, his plan was working and despite the fact that he was still scared shitless of what Harvey was going to say, for first time he felt like he was making a change and that maybe it’ll be worth something.

He finished making already a few feet long popcorn chain and started to decorate a spruce with rainbow lights. He was about to finish when Donna and Charlie entered the room, the woman with three enormous cups of hot chocolate and the boy holding a pack of marshmallows in one hand and a box with gingerbread house fragments in the other.

“Mike, no, I wanna do this!” Charlie demanded. He put the stuff on the table, grabbed Mike’s chain and started to swirl it around the tree, managing to put it on several lowest twigs.

“Wait, let me help you.” The man took another end of the chain and wrapped it from the top of the tree. When they were done with hanging their handmade decorations, Mike reached for a box with a few big, beautiful baubles he found in his grandma’s closet. “I have something special for our tree.” Mike didn’t remember a single Christmas without them; hand-painted, brought to the country by his great-grandfather, they were in their family since forever. He handed one of them to the boy, telling him their story.

“Why did you brought them to us then?”

“What?”

“If they’re special and they belong in your family, why do you want to hang them on Mister Harvey’s tree?” he repeated slowly, carefully stringing one of them up on a twig. When he made sure that bauble wasn’t going to fall he looked at Mike who was pretty lost at this point. He glanced at Donna, looking for help, but she was just standing there, observing both of them with her hand on her cheek and smiling tenderly. She clearly found it adorable and really, Mike had no idea why.

“Uh…” he began, scratching back of his head in uncomfortable gesture. Donna was still stubbornly silent, waiting for Mike’s answer. And then Charlie made this situation even worse because he asked:

“Do you like my dad?”

What was he supposed to say to that? He didn’t know kid’s mother, what she taught him. Hell, he didn’t even know what Harvey thought about what they had.

From behind them he heard a repressed squeal and immediate, muffled apology.

“My mom likes this one man, too, she invites him over to have dinners with us and she lets him sleep in our house sometimes,” Charlie continued, throwing a quick, a bit confused look at Donna and then looked back at Mike standing motionless in front of him. “She says she likes him very much and that she wants everything to be perfect for him and then she takes her special plates, these with silver circles on them and we eat dinner on these plates and I know she wants him to like her too because we never eat on them.”

If Mike wasn’t so petrified right now, he would be definitely laughing out loud because this situation was getting ridiculous. It’s the one thing to admit to yourself that you’re in love with your boss but admitting it in front of said boss’ child and his best friend? That’s a tough one.

“Yeah, I… I believe I do like your dad, special plates and everything,” he admitted, his face probably abnormally red from embarrassment. He was firmly avoiding looking at any of them, busying himself with finishing hanging those damned baubles from which all of this had started.

“That’s cool. He has a really nice house. Does this mean I have three dads now and I’ll be getting three times more presents on my birthday?”

Donna must’ve been holding back a laugh because she suddenly choked on a moan and started openly cackling, flapping her hands in the air, after which she came to them and hugged them both still making some weird noises from slowly calming laughter. Then she moved away a bit and looked at them from an arm distance and ruffled their hair with a smile.

“I could watch you two talking whole day, you’re both so amazing with each other I almost wish you were mine, not Harvey’s,” the woman suddenly grew serious as she spoke again, “but we have a gingerbread house waiting to be done here, boys, so let’s get to it, I want my Christmas to be perfect, too.”

*

After this day, Harvey was certain of one thing. Rinsberg was an idiot. His dreamed merger was a shitty deal and everyone seemed to know that, except for Rinsberg who, unfortunately, held over sixty percent of company’s voting shares. Harvey hated mergers. Hated Jessica for making him work on this merger. At this point he hated everyone and everything, that’s how hating mergers made him feel. And they were boring as hell.

It was a chilly evening. Harvey stepped out of Rinsberg’s offices, a cold winter wind completely ruining his neatly arranged hair. He buttoned up his coat and pulled out his cellphone. He needed a plan, some proofs to finally make Rinsberg realize what he’s doing and hopefully persuade him to change his mind and agree to what Harvey was suggesting. He needed to go through all of the case files, find some old ones similar to this one and he needed a sharp, unmannered and fresh brain to make a connection and come up with a solution. He needed his associate.

His finger was hovering over Mike’s number for a few unnaturally long seconds before he huffed and called Ray. If he was a smoker, he would definitely be already half done with his exasperation cigarette.

Mike was probably the last person he should call now since their yesterday’s meeting wasn’t exactly a good one. A younger man just storming out of his apartment without a word, without even hearing out Harvey’s explanation. He was probably wailing over Charles’ existence now, sitting alone in his filthy flat, once again considering dumping Pearson Hardman and basically having a hard time sorting out his feelings. Harvey snorted to his own thoughts. It wasn’t like he didn’t have more important things to be worried about than some rookie associate’s feelings being hurt.

As for example his son waiting for him at home and today being Christmas and Harvey’s painful lack of Christmas presents for said son.

“Ray, do you, by any chance, know a place where I could order an instant and perfectly chosen Christmas gift for a six year old I know next to nothing about?” he asked, getting into the limo.

“Weren’t you buying Charlie’s last birthday present in that sort of place?”

“No, I set up a college fund for him his last birthday. It must’ve been a year before that.”

His driver smiled at him in the rearview mirror. “Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you, Harvey”

“Would you, now…” he raised an eyebrow and continued with an everlasting, smug smile on his face, “is there something you’re not telling me about? Well, there obviously is, I actually shouldn’t make it sound like a question.”

Ray laughed, a sincere laugh of a person who knew something and thought it was a great idea. “I know nothing,” he said finally. There was something seriously wrong with this situation and Harvey wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. But, well, probably not.

“I’m sorry about dragging you out from your family on a Christmas day, by the way. It completely flew my mind when I called you this morning.”

“Don’t worry, Scrooge, until you’re not paying me in a coal lumps, we’re okay,” the driver said and Harvey couldn’t help but laugh with him.

*

By the time he got to the penthouse elevator, he knew something was off. After Ray’s strangely cheerful behaviour, and his flat’s guard winking and smiling at him he was pretty sure there was some kind of ‘surprise’ waiting upstairs. And Harvey hated surprises. Unless they were brand new facts helping in winning a case. Or unless a surprise was lying naked on his bed. But he doubted that this time it was any of the above.

Donna picked up her phone after third signal and even though she tried to cover phone with her palm he heard her shushing someone before she said to him: “Harvey, hi. How’s Rinsberg’s merger going?”

“Oh please, don’t make me talk about it,” he sighed, trying to make it sound like he was extremely tired. “We’re not even close to finish, I’m afraid I’m stuck here for at least another few hours.”

Woman made a disappointed sound. “That’s a shame, I was hoping for at least one celebratory glass of eggnog with you before Christmas ends.”

“No can do, I am so tired I’ll probably just go straight to bed. So, you know, I hope you’re not waiting for me with some kind of Christmas surprise…” A quiet ‘fuck, he knows’ just confirmed his suspicions. He huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Okay, I’ll hang up now since I found out everything I wanted to know. I only hope it’s not your parents. I love you but your mother is a bitch.”

Taking off his coat, fixing his hair and adjusting cufflinks, Harvey was preparing himself for whatever it was that awaited him upstairs. He was looking at his feet, working on his ‘get the fuck out of my condo’ speech when an elevator stopped and he got out, starting talking immediately.

“Good evening, everyone, it’s unspeakably nice of you to show up tonight but…” he lifted his head and stopped suddenly, rest of the speech stuck in his throat. The quiet ‘oh’ escaped his mouth as he looked between the unusual trio and the giant, glowing and decorated like a church fair Christmas tree standing almost in the centre of his living room.

Donna was laughing with her head tilted back, her long, ginger hair flowing down between her shoulders. She was holding a cup of something hot, her fingers clutched around it, probably in hope for warming up. Mike stood next to her, visibly as happy as she was, a beaming smile lightning his face. He was giving a piggyback ride to Harvey’s son who was trying to put a homemade angel on top of the tree.

He almost felt bad for interrupting them now, a strange clenching feeling in his guts being the strongest proof for it. Not to mention that he unknowingly smiled to himself as he felt a little warmer inside but he completely ignored the warmth, trying to be mad about this whole situation.

Charles saw him first, tearing his eyes away from an angel a second he heard Harvey’s voice. The boy started kicking Mike in his chest to let him go, and when Mike set him on the ground he rushed towards Harvey with open arms, catching a dumbstruck man in a tight hug. Wasn’t it the first time Charles was genuinely smiling in Harvey’s presence? And he was hugging him, for god’s sake, what did they do to this kid? Having a hard time coping with all these new affections, he crouched before him, just like he did this morning and asked: “So how was your day, Charles?”

“It was awesome!” he tried to whisper but a clear excitement made him shout it, unfortunately close to Harvey’s ear. “We ate waffles with Nutella and then Mike taught me how to make a popcorn chain and an angel and all of the things we hanged on our tree.” Well, that explained a trashy look, Harvey thought but didn’t interrupt. “Except for those glass baubles, those are Mike’s special ornaments and he brought them because he likes you.”

Suddenly Mike groaned, covering his face with his palm. Harvey chuckled, glancing at the younger man. “That’s wonderful,” he said, standing up and ruffling kid’s hair. “I’m really happy that you were having fun, now if you could go play with Donna for a moment, I need to talk to Mike, okay?” A shadow of disappointment darted through Charles’ face, giving Harvey back his old son.

“But will you help us with the angel? We were waiting for you to put it on the top but Donna said you won’t make it so we decided to put it on ourselves, but since you’re here then you have to do this because it’s your home, will you do this with me?”

“Right after I speak with Mike, I promise.” Charles wasn’t fully satisfied with the answer but he obediently started walking to the kitchen behind Donna. Harvey nodded at the younger man, pointing to the nearest room.

Once they were alone in his bedroom, doors closed and sure nobody was eavesdropping, Harvey turned back and looked at Mike.

“What do you think you’re doing here, exactly?” he asked, trying to maintain calm. You burst into my life, immediately making yourself comfortable. You change things like it was your destiny to change them. I can bear unexpected but slight changes, those that you seem to make anyway but bursting in, messing everything up with your surprises and creating such chaos in a perfectionist’s environment? That’s an entirely different kind of cruel.

Harvey didn’t say that out loud but his face had to show at least some of these feelings because Mike’s expression softened at some point and they were just standing there for a while, looking at each other. However, when Mike reached out to cup Harvey’s face with his palm, the older man came back.

“I won’t have you messing with my personal matters, is that clear?” He stepped back and looked at Mike defiantly. He had a weak moment just now but he was going back to his normal best closer in the city self and he had no intention of losing this situation. He straightened up, showing off his dominance.

“Are you serious right now?” Mike snapped, clearly not moved by Harvey’s demonstration, softness completely gone. “Look around you, Harvey. This morning your son, _your son_ , goddamnit, was calling you ‘Mister’ and he was afraid of touching anything in this apartment…” Well, very well, Harvey thought, he probably would’ve broken something anyway. “And you left him with a stranger for a who-”

“Donna is hardly a stranger,” he sputtered, trying to defend himself but Mike just silenced him with a hand gesture and continued:

“For a whole day. I heard your talk with Jessica yesterday, do you really hate him so much? Why would you even take him in, it’s obviously not like he doesn’t have a mother.”

He finished, breathing heavily, trying to calm himself. Harvey could see that Mike was as surprised as he was by his sudden outburst. Not sure if he didn’t cross the line just now the young man stood still, observing his boss.

“I still fail to understand how any of this is your business, you know,” Harvey said, with a distressingly calm voice and watched as Mike threw his hands in the air, turned around and grabbed the doorknob to leave Harvey’s apartment.

“Mike, wait I’m so—“

He saw how Mike’s shoulders rose and dropped with a deep, calming breath. He stopped, his hand still on a knob, but didn’t turn around. Harvey fell heavily on a bed, rested his elbows on his knees and combed his hair with his fingers, trying to come up with the right words.

“Her boyfriend was going to propose today,” he began, “he wanted to take her out to some fancy restaurant, he wanted them to be alone. She couldn’t leave him with a babysitter since it’s Christmas so she asked me,” he said and looked up. Mike was standing right beside him.

“That doesn’t really explain why you treat him like that.”

“She was my client, Mike.”

A sudden realization struck his associate. He opened his mouth, ready to say something but gave up and sat next to Harvey instead, waiting for him to continue.

“She was basically the reason why I came up with my rules you’re so fond of breaking.” They both smiled lightly. “I almost lost her case because of my unprofessional, emotional involvement and after her last trial I decided I just… I couldn’t risk another one. And Charles is just a constant reminder of my failure.”

A warm, soft hand lying for some time now on Harvey’s neck moved slowly and Mike sunk his fingers in Harvey’s hair, stroking lightly. He closed his eyes as Mike pressed his forehead to the man’s temple.

“I didn’t know,” he whispered, nudging Harvey’s cheek with his nose, still not sure if he was allowed to do any of these things.

“I didn’t want you to know,” Harvey replied and, as if he wanted to show him that it was indeed okay, kissed him lightly. Mike, encouraged, deepened the kiss almost immediately, cupping man’s face with his other hand.

It was slow and intense, full of untold feelings, like resentfulness and blame. But there was also a promise, and intention to keep it.

They parted reluctantly, Harvey with a wide smile. He looked at Mike from under his brows, a playful sparkle, usually present there, reappeared in his eyes. Mike could tell that he was just waiting to say something cocky.

“I knew I did wrong, avoiding those restroom kisses under the mistletoe the other day.”

Mike laughed and punched him gently. After a few another brief kisses he got up and held out his hand. “I believe we have an angel to put on the tree.” Harvey grabbed and squeezed his hand affectionately but didn’t got up.

“I’ll be there in a second.”

Epilogue

Dressed a bit more casual, Harvey leaned against the doorframe, admiring this brand new, so very unfamiliar to him, view. His flat, usually empty and unpleasantly neat, was now strangely appealing despite this horrendous mess boys did with their cuttings. Colourful paper clippings were everywhere, alongside with popcorn and occasional spruce needle covering his unimaginably expensive carpet and coffee table but surprisingly enough, Harvey realized, he didn’t really mind. It came to life, filled with warmth and, he couldn’t believe he actually thought that, with love. These people cared for him, cared enough to ruin his usual Christmas plans consisting a glass of bourbon and some oldschool records. They invaded his thoroughly guarded safe zone of personal space which, in his case, was unusually wide. He preferred keeping everyone at a proper distance, scarred with bad memories and poor choices, but they wouldn’t listen, already halfway through turning his world upside down, with Mike as an igniter.

“We were going to clean this mess up before you get back,” Mike nudged him with his arm, standing very close to him and handing him a cup of hot chocolate. Harvey accepted it with a grateful smile and took a sip, catching one of marshmallows with his teeth.

“You clearly didn’t succeed,” he replied, mumbling because of the candy somewhat stuck between his lips.

“Because you lied to us.” Mike moved closer to him and bit the marshmallow, stealing a quick kiss.

Charlie ran up to them, pulling Mike’s leg. When he got their attention he reached up with one hand, a second one busy with their angel. Mike picked him up, making a comment about how big he was, to which Charlie responded with a laugh and patted Mike on the head.

“Dad, are you watching? You see how tall I am?” Charlie raised his hands, trying to reach the ceiling.

“Oh yeah, you’re the biggest six year old I know,” Harvey said matter-of-factly, making Mike chuckle from under the boy, trying to hold still as he stepped over Donna who was placing presents under the tree and at the same time belaying Charlie leaning forward to finally set up their angel. Harvey took out his phone and turned the camera on. “That’s beautiful. Now look at me.” He pressed the button right after his son finally placed their decoration. He smiled to himself, admiring a photo, and making it his phone’s wallpaper.

Still having a hard time believing that he’s not really bothered by their presence here, Harvey stared at his associate holding and tickling his son, and at his assistant, trying very hard to nicely arrange those four Christmas gifts of theirs under the tree. And, to be honest, that was the first time in a long time Harvey actually felt like he was home.

  


_(Based on this photo)_


End file.
